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SECTION THIRTEEN
THE DIVINE AND THE HOSTILE POWERS
I. THE DIVINE BEINGS II. THE HOSTILE FORCES
I. THE DIVINE BEINGS
The Existence of Gods
OF course, the gods exist—that is to say, there are Powers that stand above the world and transmit the divine workings. It is the physical mind which believes only what is physical that denies them. There are also beings of other worlds—gods and etc.
THE gods are Personalities or Powers put forth by the Divine—they are therefore in fact limited Emanations, although the full Divine is behind each of them.
25-12-1933 Page-341
THE overmind is the world of the gods and the gods are not merely powers but have forms also.
28-6-1933 The Luminous Body of Higher Beings
IT is a luminous body spoken of in the Veda as possessed by the beings of the higher planes. It is, supposed by certain schools of Yoga in the East and the West that in the final transformation on earth man will develop a body having these qualities. It was called the "Corps Glorieux"—"body of glory"—by the Mother’s first spiritual instructor.
25-6-1933
THE Gods have their own enjoyments though they may not be of a material character. Page-342
BRAHMA, Vishnu, Shiva are only three Powers and Personalities of the One Cosmic Godhead.
14-9-1933
BRAHMA is the Power of the Divine that stands behind formation and creation.
As for Vishnu being the creator, all the three gods are often spoken of as creating the universe—even Shiva who is by tradition the Destroyer.
11-3-1933 Page-343
THERE is no particular connection between Shiva and the Overmind—the Overmind is the higher station of all the Gods. It is better not to call it the Overmind until the action of it is clear and there can be no mistake.
25-9-1933
YES, that is the Overmind vision—in the Overmind the Gods are still separated existences.
14-6-1933
ADYA SHAKTI is the original Shakti, therefore, the highest form of the Mother. Only she manifests in a different way according to the plane on which one sees her.
22-7-1933 Page-344
THERE are not many Mothers, there is One in many forms. The transcendental is only one aspect of the Mother. I don’t know what is meant by the embodied aspect of the transcendental Mother. There is the embodied aspect of the One Mother —what she manifests through it depends on herself.
7-7-1936
MAHAKALI and Kali are not the same. Kali is a lesser form, Mahakali in the higher planes appears usually with the golden colour.
THE lion with Durga on it is the symbol of the Divine Consciousness acting through a divinised physical-vital and vital-emotional force.
November 1933 Page-345
IT is probably the realm of the dynamic creative spirit from the highest mental plane which you saw as the world of Parvati-Shankara.
IT is, I suppose, the image of Sri Krishna as Lord of the divine love and ananda—and his flute calls the physical being to awake out of the attachments of the physical world and turn to that love and ananda.
September 1934
GANESHA is the Power that removes obstacles by the force of Knowledge; Kartikeya represents victory over the hostile Powers. Of course, the names given are human, but the gods exist.
21-3-1933 Page-346
GANESHA (among other things) is the Devata of spiritual Knowledge—so, as you are getting this Knowledge you saw yourself in this form identified with Ganesha.
22-9-1934
PROBABLY you had a symbolic vision of the Ganesha power, the remover of obstacles, receiving strength from the Mother—because the work of the Power was going on in you, you had the sense of identification with Ganesha.
10-4-1933
THE peacock is the bird of Victory and Kartikeya the leader of the divine forces.
September 1934 Page-347 II. THE HOSTILE FORCES
Two Kinds of Asuras
THERE are two kinds of Asuras—one kind were divine in their origin but have fallen from their divinity by self-will and opposition to the intention of the Divine: they are spoken of in the Hindu scriptures as the former or earlier gods; these can be converted and their conversion is indeed necessary for the ultimate purposes of the universe. But the ordinary Asura is not of this character, is not an evolutionary but a typal being and represents a fixed principle of the creation which does not evolve or change and is not intended to do so. These Asuras, as also the other hostile beings, Rakshasas, Pisachas and others resemble the devils of the Christian tradition and oppose the divine intention and the evolutionary purpose in the human being: they don’t change the purpose in them for which they exist which is evil, but have to be destroyed like the evil. The Asura has no soul, no psychic being which has to evolve to a higher state; he has only an ego and usually a very powerful ego; he has a mind, sometimes even a highly intellectualised mind; but the basis of his thinking and feeling is vital and not mental, at Page-348 the service of his desire and not of truth. He is a formation assumed by the life-principle for a particular kind of work and not a divine formation or a soul.
14-6-1950
THE evil forces are perversions of the Truth by the Ignorance—in any complete transformation they must disappear and the Truth behind them be delivered. In this way they can be said to be transformed by destruction.
October 1933 Difficulty of Transforming Asuras
IT is the movements of the lower nature that get purified. The Asuras are not so easily transformed.
7-5-1933 Page-349 Ordinary Nature-Forces and Hostile Forces (1)
THEY are not hostile forces, they are simply the forces of the ordinary Nature. The hostile forces are those which try to pervert everything and are in revolt against the Divine and opposed to the Yoga.
(2)
Nature-forces are conscious forces—they can very well combine all that is necessary for an action or a purpose and when one means fails, take another.
11-2-1937
HOSTILE forces attack every sadhaka; some are conscious of it, others are not. Their object is either to influence the person or to use him or to spoil his sadhana or the work or any other motive of the kind. Their object is not to test, but their attack may be used by the guiding power as a test.
29-5-1930 Page-350
EVIL forces can always attack in moments of unconsciousness or half-consciousness or through the subconscient or external physical—so long as all is not supramentally transformed. Only if the force is there, they can at once be pushed back.
16-7-1933
THE hostile forces do not need a cause for attacking —they attack whenever and whoever they can. What one has to see is that nothing responds or admits them.
10-2-1934
THERE are no sadhakas who are never attacked by wrong forces—but if one has a complete faith and self-consecration, one can throw off the attack without too much difficulty. Page-351 The Intention of Hostile Forces
NATURALLY, the hostile forces are always on the watch to rob what they can of the things received by the sadhaka,—not that they profit by them but they prevent them from being used to build up the Divine in life.
16-4-1933
A PROGRESS made often stirs the adverse forces to activity, they want to diminish its effect as much as possible. When you get a decisive experience of this kind, you should remain concentrated and assimilate it—avoiding self-dispersion and all externalising of the consciousness.
17-10-1930 Page-352
YOUR description is too vague. From what you write it may just as well be the reaction that frequently follows an experience; the adverse force coming in with a contrary movement. Tests come sometimes from the hostile forces, sometimes in the course of Nature. I suppose they must be necessary, since they always come in sadhana.
16-9-1936 Two Ways of Removing Imperfections— Stopping of Experience by Hostile Forces
EITHER the higher consciousness has to descend into the vital and physical or else by the psychic consciousness coming forward one has to detect whatever imperfection is in the vital and reject it. There are always hostile forces that try to stop or break the experience. If they come in, it is a sign that there is something in the being—vital or physical —that either responds or is too inert to oppose.
31-8-1933 Page-353 (1) THE things enumerated are not causes of the attacks, but they are the occasion, the weakness in the sadhaks that allows them when they could very well be dismissed. The hostile forces are there in the world to maintain the Ignorance—they were there in the sadhana, because they had the right to test the sincerity of the sadhaks in their power and will to cleave to the Divine and overcome all difficulties. But this is only so long as the higher Light has not descended into the physical; now it is descending, it is sufficiently there for anyone to receive it more and more fully, so that the way becomes smooth and open, a progressive development and not a struggle.
10-11-1933 (2)
You are right. The hostile forces, their attacks, their suggestions ought now to be superannuated, out of date, out of place here in this sadhana. If somebody would realise that and fulfil it in his sadhana, the others might perhaps get strength to follow. At present these things are still here because the sadhaks open themselves to them out of habit, out of desire, out of attraction for the drama of the vital, out of fear, out of passive response and unresisting inertia. But there is no real necessity for them any longer or Page-354 true justification for their presence here,—the outer world is a different matter. The sadhana could very well go on and should go on as an unfolding, a natural falling away of defects and difficulties, a coming of greater and greater light and power and transformation.
8-11-1933 Lowering of Consciousness and Hostile attacks
You need not be upset about the matter; it is sufficient if you note movements like these and are vigilant that they should find no ground in you again. The cause is probably to be found in the contact with the outside world renewing some possibilities of the old Adam in you. When there is some lowering or diminution of the consciousness or some impairing of it at one place or another, the Adversary—or the Censor—who is always on the watch presses with all his might wherever there is a weak point lying covered from your own view, and suddenly a wrong movement leaps up with unexpected force. Become conscious and cast out the possibility of its renewal, that is all that is to be done.
25-5-1930 Page-355 Rejection of Hostile Suggestions
THERE has been progress in all these parts, but they seem to be subject still to a response to the suggestions of the hostile forces. Everybody gets these suggestions, but they ought not to be allowed to enter inside, especially in the heart, or to be accepted by the vital. Evidently, they enter through the physical mind (from the throat upwards means that) and affect the surface vital and emotional being. You must get the power to reject them from there by a constant and steady denial and refusal of their suggestions. So long as anything in you says "yes" or accepts, there is always the possibility of a return.
23-12-1933 Habitual Response to Adverse Forces
As I have said, the response of the physical mind or vital to these forces is a habit. You get upset as soon as they touch either and lose control over yourself. The concentration in the heart is the way to get rid of them, but there must also be a detachment of the consciousness so that it can stand back from the attack and feel separate from it. Page-356
WHEN the vital forces or beings throw an influence, they give it certain forms of thought, action and put them in the minds and vital of people so that they feel, think, act and speak in a particular way. Whoever opens to their influence acts according to this formation, perhaps with variations due to his own vital temperament.
4-9-1937 The Way to Meet Hostile Forces
THEY (hostile forces) come because they were freely permitted in the past—so they want to renew and continue their action. An entire rejection and a complete turning to the Divine are the way to meet them. Page-357 Inadvisability of Concern about Hostile Forces
IT is better not to trouble about the hostile forces. Keep your aspiration strong and sincere and call in the Divine in each thing and at each moment for support and in all that you feel keep yourself open to us. That is the easiest way to the Divine. If you begin to concern yourself about the hostile forces, you will only make the path more difficult.
19-7-1934 Possession by Hostile Power—Action of Divine Force
IT is evident from your description that it was a vital force trying to take violent possession of the body. Nothing can be more dangerous than to allow this kind of loss of control and intrusion of an alien influence. In your present condition of ignorance, the vital being not yet sufficiently open, the psychic not yet sufficiently awake, a hostile power can easily intrude and pass itself off as the Divine Force. Remember that no personality and no power is to be allowed to possess you. The Divine Force will not act in this way; it will work first to purify, to widen and enlighten the consciousness, to open it to Light and Truth, to awake the heart and the psychic being. Only afterwards Page-358 will it take gradual and quiet control through a pure and conscious surrender. You must also understand that there is only one Power at work and neither you nor he nor anybody else matters. Let each one open himself to the workings of that Power in him and let there be no attempt at forming a body of sadhaks with somebody leading or intervening between the one Power and the sadhaks. 9-10-1927
Hostile Attack in Sleep—Need of Fearlessness in Sadhana
IT is evident that C’s experience was only what is called a nightmare—an attack in sleep from some force of the vital world, to which he probably opened himself in some way, it may be by answering to the man from the street who carried the worst vital atmosphere around him. The figure of the woman was only a form given by his subconscient mind to this force. These forces are around everywhere, not only in one particular room or house, and if one opens the door to them, they Page-359 come in wherever you are. It would have no importance but for the nervous reaction of irrational terror indulged in by C. One who wants to do sadhana has no business to indulge in such panics; it is a weakness incompatible with the demands of the Yoga and, if one cannot throw it aside, it is safer not to try the Yoga.
27-12-1932 Page-360 |